A hype free Movie and Music Review blog curated by the Websnacker and Crew. Plus Irreverent Commentary, Slice of Life Vignettes and Random Incisive Thoughts on Culture, Travel, Design, Marketing, Activism, Environment, Men, Women, and Everything else in between. Besides every now and then, a healthy dose of sparkling Music and awesome hard to find Movies - for FREE!

Hear Now

Manifesto Existenso

Social Provocateur, Blogger, World Traveler, Cinephile, Music Collector, Marketeer, Photog / Lensman, Web Bandit, Anti Capitalist, Ghost Writer, Tastemaker, Misread Critic, Bootlegger, Design Geek, Green Activist, Futurist, OpenSourcer, Optimist, WebDJ and Curator of this Blog - at the Crossroads of Life! And an avid collector of Cinema and Music - have a personal collection of 15000+ Movies, 50000+ music tracks and much more. Send a request and it will be granted! Read More..

Legal Mumbo Jumbo

All the content - Music, Movies, Reviews, Articles and other stuff here are for your personal reading, hearing and viewing only. It has been gathered from around the world and is honestly meant to promote the original artists/creators so please don’t trip out. The Websnacker Blog simply acts as a tastemaker - a broadcaster letting you discover great content, hear fresh music and see amazing movies usually not covered by the mainstream media - an eclectic experience to see the world in a different perspective. However, in other words, if you happen to be one of the fancy pants that owns the copyright to stuff that you see here and don't agree with this act of goodwill, let me know and I will gladly remove the links as fast as you can say a Hip Hop, Be Bop, Don't Stop. Chill! Still waiting for an Alien Invasion!!!

Subscribe NOW

Essential Links

Copy Wrong

Unless explicitly indicated, all content here has been either authored, co-authored, produced, directed, composed, mixed or ghost written by the blog authors. Every effort has also been made to credit (and trace) the original copyright holders and if you're one among them, our most sincere apologies for the omission. Believe the Websnacker, its all in good faith so simply write in and it'll be set right in a presto. And to explain these totally impure actions, lets also quote Wilson Mizner and Stravinsky - "If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, its research!", "A good composer does not imitate, he steals". Peace!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

There is a perturbing resurgence towards 'fun' in the workplace - something we saw in the 1990s and only accidentally before then. It came from America but it's spreading again like a flesh-eating bug. Any management type I meet these days seem to have just come back from a weekend ‘fun workshop’ at either a beach resort, golf club or a hill station.

The ‘fun’ secret, apparently, is to work like a slave but you are not supposed to know that, you are supposed to 'discover' it by “trial and error” with lots of (shudder) teamwork. So whereas I; for instance, might say ‘Listen you morons, this is the way to do it', the serious contender for higher management would say, "Hey everyone, what Ross just said has given me an idea. Why don't we try it.?"Anyway, every good urban parent is now sending their children on these fun workshops, because they feel it is clearly, an essential career skill.

But these new employers are making things darn difficult. Fast-food chains especially, those with absurd names take would-be Waiters and Managers to such training workshops to test their "fun" potential. Fun apparently consists of doing improvisations, making board games out of food cartons and answering nightmare questions such "You are Moses. Come up with 10 new commandments", (Commandment One: Thou shall not work for such restaurants or any other employer with a silly name.). And then there is this big supposedly eco-conscious company who make natural cosmetics, believe in "compassionate capitalism" and have something called a "Joy Club" led by a "Grand Messiah of Joy" whose job is to ensure that all employees dress up as Animals on Animal Rights day. For God’s sake, is this fun.

Recently, a letter sent to the staff of a leading international courier company by their executive director that was leaked, read as follows: "Really, folks, no big deal but Fridays in all our offices, from now on, are casual dress days - meaning, if you wish to dress down that day, you just go right ahead and do that. You may wish to wear more formal clothes on a Friday if you have a meeting or lunch with a client, vendor or whatever - but that's for you to decide.... As for me, I'll enjoy not having to wear a tie that last day of the working week”. What this actually means of course is "wear a tie from Mondays to Thursdays, you idiots or you're out".

This seems a perfectly reasonable demand for an employer to make, though probably unwelcome. But by couching it in "Really, folks, no big deal" lingo it manages to add several degrees of insult- first, the insult that employees will be too thick to understand, and second, the outrageous insult that they might be flattered to be addressed as "folks".

Make no mistake: management ideas of "fun" are nothing more than brainwashing, a creepy attempt to control employee attitudes by eliminating the negative - not letting you realize you are getting paid peanuts, not letting you feel the dull sameness of your office. But being negative, of course, is what makes - work enjoyable - complaining about one's bosses, mimicking their inane walks or accents, circulating their dafter emails, spying on their sex lives (if any) and generally maintaining the proud tradition of office politics, bitching and selfishness which is a great asset of any office. Reinforcing artificial “fun” is no substitute at all.

0
comments:

Post a Comment

Think of this blog as an alternative to your regular mainstream entertainment source. For most bloggers, writers and journalists after the blood, sweat and tears all they have is a paycheck at the end of the day but here, we have something better, our passion. Read on and you'll agree why this blog is different! And remember to like the Websnacker on Facebook and follow on Twitter!
As always, your comments, suggestions, and questions are welcome. Messages become property of the websnacker in terms to edit, publish, speak out loud or perform, commit to memory, show to my mom, or otherwise distribute.